EXCERPT: “Late last year, the United States quietly hit a financial milestone. According to a report from the Federal Reserve, household net worth in this country rose to a new record, hitting $98.74 trillion . . . But while the quarterly report, known as the ‘flow of funds,’ shows growth, it doesn’t break down demographics or examine how assets are distributed. That breakdown would likely show much less encouraging news: evidence of an economy becoming more and more uneven, due to the unequal distribution of opportunity across economic, racial, and generational lines. . . . According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, not one of the 100 cities with the largest black populations has anywhere close to an equal homeownership rate between black and white people. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the gap is a staggering 50 percent. These disparities get reinforced in the mortgage market: A Wall Street Journal analysis found that just 5 percent of mortgages were offered to African Americans in 2014, down 3 percentage points from 2014.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2HwQJK8

EXCERPT: “Leaders across Minnesota want to end homelessness by 2020, and they’ve come up with a seven-point plan to achieve that goal. Homelessness in Minnesota has decreased 8 percent since 2014, when the state initially launched the plan Heading Home, according to the Minnesota Housing Agency. The most recent plan, Heading Home Together, aims to further that effort. ‘We know how to end homelessness,’ said Cathy ten Broeke, state director to prevent and end homelessness, in a prepared statement. ‘Despite this progress, many Minnesotans remain precariously housed in every corner of our state. This plan … gives us the opportunity to accelerate our progress.’ Forty-six organizations agreed to align their work over the next three years with the seven principles guiding the process.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2Gk1AHI

EXCERPT: “Rental listings website Apartment List crunched data in its more than 2 million national listings to calculate the average apartment size renters could expect in every U.S. state, based on a $1,500 monthly budget (about 30% of the median household’s $60,000 salary). With help from Apartment List, MONEY took that data and compared it with the site’s current listings, so you can what those square feet look like in real life.” FULLSTORY: https://yhoo.it/2tA8g1A